The Divine Step

At the Divine Step, there were no clearly defined realms, however, there were titles used to describe divinities with different levels of attainment. In a way, these could be considered the 'realms' of the Divine Step.

To begin with, there were Deities. Deities were those who had reached the Divine Step, but were yet to complete their dao heart. Almost all divinities would become a Deity upon reaching the Divine Step; only those monsters like Yaan, who ascended to the Divine Step using their dao heart, would completely skip past this stage.

Divinities with a completed dao heart were referred to as Empyreans.

There were also prefixes applied to these titles. Deities and Empyreans who were yet to comprehend the entire Heavenly Dao, had the 'Earthly' prefix. Those who had comprehended the entire Heavenly Dao, had the 'Heavenly' prefix.

Those who ascended via their dao heart were instead given the 'Heart' prefix.

Until now, the only beings to ascend to the Divine Step using their dao hearts were Defiance Sovereign and the Primordial Devil. Despite not comprehending the Heavenly Dao, their alternative ascension method gave them a certain strength of heart that others lacked.

Yaan was a unique case. Unlike Defiance Sovereign and the Primordial Devil, he did comprehend the earthly daos under the Heavenly Dao, but he didn't use these dao comprehensions to step onto the Divine Stairway. This was something that had never happened before in the 2nd Origin Era.

As such, like the Primordial Devil and Defiance Sovereign, Yaan was considered a Heart Empyrean. Also like Defiance Sovereign and the Primordial Devil, Yaan's divine title did not include the word 'Empyrean', but was something unique…

World Demon. He had once been the Primordial Devil's heart demon, but now, many people thought of him as the heart demon of the world itself.

It was just like Old Thief once told him…you didn't get to choose your divine title, the world chose for you.

Unlike Defiance Sovereign and the Primordial Devil, Yaan's path forwards would definitely consist of trying to comprehend the entire Heavenly Dao. At least, that was one of the objectives that he set himself since arriving on the Sage Plane following the events around Yushu Planet.

Several years had passed since then, but the chaos of everything that had transpired continued to impact the world heavily.

The entire Spirit Plane had been completely destroyed, as had the karmic river. With the destruction of the Heavenly Dao's dao of karma, almost every divinity, and countless Transcendents and immortals, sustained serious injuries. Some had healed from these injuries by now, others had not.

Many fragments from the Spirit Plane had forced their way onto the Qi Plane. There were now many Primordial Treasures and Divine True Inheritances scattered across the Qi Plane, but also the 12 divinities from the Spirit Plane who were forced to migrate to the Qi Plane.

For the past few years, the world of divinities had fallen quiet, but everyone knew that this was the calm before the storm. They were all waiting, watching the situation on the Qi Plane cautiously.

This period of peace would not last for long. The explosion of destruction which fell down from the karmic river and Spirit Plane was now finally subsiding, having spread all throughout the Four Divine Star System, inflicting serious damage to countless life-planets and living beings, especially those closer to Planet Yushu. As that wave of destruction spread out, more and more Primordial Treasures and Divine True Inheritance were revealed, gradually attracting the greed and desire of the divinities.

They were all waiting as they recovered from their injuries and made their preparations, but many lay in wait nearby. They were ready to act at a moment's notice if another divinity attempted to steal something that they had their eye on. 

The Primordial Sage was also keeping a careful watch over the situation across the Qi Plane…

Yaan and the Primordial Sage were sat within a small temple that Yaan had created close to the centre of the Sage Plane – this temple was created from illusions, but it was practically indistinguishable from a real temple.

In the few years that he spent on the Sage Plane, Yaan had done two things.

Firstly, he properly settled his foundation and integrated all of his powers, adapting to his newfound strength. The leap from his former strength to his current Divine Step power was too extreme. It took him years to grow accustomed to this power, and to adapt his former abilities into something suitable for his current might.

Secondly, he learned more about the world from the Primordial Sage.

He also discovered the true source of the Primordial Sage's strength.

It was information.

"I finally understand how it is that you're always one step ahead of everyone else. To think that you actually possess such an absurd ability…" Yaan sighed deeply.

The Sage Plane was actually the Primordial Sage's Sea of Consciousness, and in a way, this could be considered the true source of her power. However, the reason that she was so formidable, was a bit terrifying. She had just revealed to Yaan that she could not only control the minds of almost every single being below the Divine Step…but she could also read their thoughts.

Or rather, she was reading their thoughts. All of them, at all times.

She saw the world through the eyes of almost all living beings. She witnessed countless events transpiring throughout this world simultaneously. She had comprehended the thought processes and rational enlightenments of countless lives across the four – now three – World Planes.

This was almost at the level of omniscience.

For this reason, the Primordial Sage was also the greatest teacher that Yaan could hope for. She explained many matters pertaining to the divinities that he hadn't known until now, enlightening him to the various powerhouses and factions that existed throughout the world.

"Sage…how many people know about this ability of yours?" Yaan asked curiously. "I can't imagine that you would tell me this unless it was already known to others, right?"

"Law Empyrean discerned the truth many years ago. He spread this knowledge to the elites of the Divine Court, and when I found out about this, I informed the other three Primordial Demons. As far as I know, nobody outside of these groups is aware of my powers…however, it is possible that Defiance Sovereign has also learned of the truth."

Yaan nodded slowly.

In the current world, the Primordial Sage was indisputably the most intelligent living being. After her, came Law Empyrean. Not far behind Law Empyrean, was Defiance Sovereign.

Defiance Sovereign didn't even place an emphasis on cultivating his intelligence, nor was he one to concoct convoluted and overly complex plans. However…he was an absolute monster. He couldn't be considered using common sense.

"Defiance Sovereign isn't one for schemes, but that's only because he doesn't need to resort to such tactics. His outright strength makes him able to act rampantly no matter where he goes, and nobody dares to stop him. That said, he is extremely intelligent, he just uses his intelligence for different purposes." The Sage went on.

"Such as?" Yaan raised an eyebrow.

"Such as deducing the identities of the outsiders in this Era. The Gods from the outside world are always looking for the other Gods. Their main reason for doing so is to kill the other Gods, reducing their competition in future Eras. This is also why almost every God chooses to hide their true identity."

"Interesting…" Yaan nodded slowly.

This was information that he considered of the utmost importance. He had reached the Divine Step, but he understood that the Divine Step was far from the end. In fact, in a way, he was yet to even reach the beginning…

The Gods, outsiders from the other Eras, only put the other Gods in their eyes. All those who could not ascend past the Origin were fated to die in this Era, they were not even players in the competition for power.

Yaan's ambition was to fix this desolate world, but to achieve this goal, he knew that before anything else, he needed to reach the apex of all strength. As such, he was setting his sights on the Gods. He wanted to learn what it was that the Gods sought by entering each Origin Era. Why did they return to the Origin after they had already ascended and left? What was it that they were looking for, what were they trying to achieve?

He planned to follow their example and search for the same things that they considered important. This would give him a head start that none of those Gods from the 1st Origin Era had experienced.

"Sage, tell me, are you also an outsider?" Yaan suddenly asked.

"I am not." The Primordial Sage replied.

"I see…" 

Yaan didn't believe her. He knew that when the Gods entered this 2nd Origin Era, some of them chose to split their Dao Souls into multiple different 'Origin Incarnations' – the separate lives that they lived in this world. He also knew that many of the outsiders to this Era, didn't actually know that they were outsiders.

When the Gods entered this 2nd Origin Era, they seemed to have some degree of control regarding whom they incarnated as. However, the more extreme their Origin Incarnation, the greater the price they would need to pay. Often, this price was their memories, which would only be recovered after once again undergoing their Origin Ascension.

For this reason, both Yaan and Defiance Sovereign felt certain that Yaan was not an outsider. His start in this world had been too miserable, and he was born far too close to the ending of the Era. No God would ever choose to enter the Origin under his circumstances.

This was also why Yaan, and every other divinity in this world, felt suspicious of the Primordial Sage.

She was born as one of the four original beings in this world, a million years prior to the first cultivator. She possessed unfathomable intelligence and a scheming mind that could manipulate the entire world according to her will. Many people believed that she was an outsider who had paid a tremendous cost in order to become the Primordial Sage in this Era.

Actually, the same suspicions were held over the other three Primordial Demons. Now that the Primordial Devil had been outed as the Origin Incarnation of the God of Sin, people were naturally even more suspicious of the remaining three.

The Primordial Devil did not know that he was an Origin Incarnation, but the same could easily be true of the other three. The fact that the Sage had outright denied being an outsider when she couldn't possibly be certain of this, suggested that she might also have her own doubts regarding her identity. Or perhaps, she already knew the truth, and she only said this to throw Yaan off…

Yaan shook his head and moved on.

"Sage, I have been meaning to ask you – what is the name of your dao heart?"

She stared at him for a while, before replying:

"Tell me yours and I will tell you mine."

"Oh?" Yaan smiled. "Can't you tell based on my aura? I'm not making an effort to hide my dao from my aura, you know."

"Your aura has become the same as that painting of yours…I don't know what I'm looking at."

Yaan chuckled lightly and didn't press the matter.

His distorted aura was deliberate. After moving to the Sage Plane, he decided to refine the painting into his domain. He fused in all of his dao comprehensions, and every enlightenment that he had reached throughout his life, then used the painting as the core of his domain.

His heart was the heart of fate, but after fusing the painting into his domain, it became impossible to see through the truth in his heart. When others witnessed Yaan's aura, they would misunderstand him, seeing that which they hated the most in this world. Of course, given time, they would come to realise that this was just an illusion used to deceive them.

When the Primordial Sage said that she didn't know what she saw in the painting and his aura, Yaan believed that she was telling the truth.

Why?

Because he believed that the Primordial Sage did not understand her own heart. As a result of this, she also didn't know what she hated.

Yaan possessed the ability to see through the emotions of all living beings, even divinities, yet when he looked at the Primordial Sage, he saw nothing.

At least, that was what he saw in the past. Now, while he still saw her lack of emotions, he also saw something else, something hidden deep within her. Yaan didn't know what lay beyond the Primordial Sage's veil of emotionlessness, but he now understood something about her.

He felt confident that the Primordial Sage cultivated a heart of void…or at least, she sought to make her heart attain the state of Void.

Void…

Yaan had once seen a glimpse of the Void, the complete absence of all things which lay at the beginning and end of space and time. Back then, the Primordial Sage had been extremely intrigued by that look of Void in his eyes right before he died, so much so that it caused a hint of shock to emerge in her heart, forcing her to give up on one of her bodies.

He hadn't thought about it too much between his reincarnation onto the Spirit Plane and his ascension to the Divine Step, but after moving to the Sage Plane, he had some time to ponder this matter. The Primordial Sage was currently his only ally, so naturally, he wanted to better understand her, and her motives.

He was fairly sure that a large part of the Primordial Sage's interest in him was related to his insight into the Void. He also believed that the Primordial Sage cultivated the heart of void, only…

It was not possible for a living being to truly live by this dao heart. Yaan learned this after receiving the Heartless Deity's True Inheritance on the Spirit Plane. Three years ago, when the Sage returned the Heartless Deity's memories which she had taken from him in the past, he became even more certain of this.

The other proof was her uncertainty regarding his painting. If her heart was truly that of Void, she would have seen nothing in his painting, but instead, it seemed that she really didn't know what she was seeing.

'There is only one explanation, no matter how absurd it may seem. The Primordial Sage cultivates the heart of void, but behind this dao heart, she possesses another dao heart at her true core, supporting the existence of her void heart from the shadows. She is cultivating the heart of void, but even she might not realise that this is not her true dao heart…'

Honestly, this conclusion only left Yaan with even more questions, but he felt like perhaps, even the Primordial Sage herself might not have the answers.

Still, he had to wonder…just what sort of dao heart could possibly support a secondary dao heart, and a heart of void no less?

"Sage…why did you cultivate that girl to such an extent?" Yaan suddenly asked.

"I assume you mean Shi, your niece from your mortal life."

Yaan remained silent and stared at her.

"I told you before, she is my weapon."

"If you planned to use her against me, then why allow the Divine Court to take her away?" Yaan pressed.

The Primordial Sage's eyes shone with a scheming light, the same light that made countless divinities feel uneasy in her presence.

"I never said that I planned to use her against you."

"Then…against the Divine Court?" Yaan's eyes lit up.

The Primordial Sage nodded.

"She has been taken to the Eternal Prison in the Divine Star System, the tower used by the Divine Court to imprison and torture notorious demons in order to deter others from standing against them."

"Indeed, I already know this. But what use is she, trapped in that place?" Yaan asked.

The Primordial Sage fell silent for a while. She thought back to the time she had spent with Shi.

"In this world, to attain greatness, an individual must possess two characteristics – madness, and rationality. Of course, there is an exception to every rule, and in this case, I have always been the sole exception – I am entirely rational, to the extent that my rationality makes up for my lack of madness. But that girl…"

After a brief pause, the Sage finally revealed what she had seen within Yaan's niece.

"That girl completely lacks rationality. I have encountered countless mad people in my life, but Shi is the living manifestation of madness itself. Not only that…she channels her madness through her desire for absolute destruction. Once she completely awakens to her true nature, we will have a chance to move against the Divine Court."

*****

On the Qi Plane, within the centre of the Divine Star System, close to the entrance into Divine Heaven, the Divine Court's main base of operations, a giant, million mile tall tower, loomed over the world. Countless enlarged images of the captives within this tower could be seen, all crying out in agony, begging to be forgiven for their wrongdoings.

This was the Eternal Prison.

Within one cell in the Eternal Prison, a woman could be seen suspended in the air by golden chains. Her clothing was ripped and her blood-matted hair fell messily across her face. She was restrained by the golden chains, each of which burned not only her body, but also her mind and soul.

The woman's head hung down, hiding her bloodshot eyes which had remained wide open ever since she was imprisoned in this place.

The woman was naturally Shi, who had been captured by Law Empyrean and imprisoned here several years earlier.

"Uncle…"